Toddler William Tyrrell, who vanished from his foster grandmother's home in the sleepy town of Kendall almost five years ago, was likely abducted by someone who chose to "act on their desires", an inquest into his disappearance hears.

Early morning walkers in Port Macquarie received a surprise when a koala came walking down the middle of a popular breakwall path. The sighting has sparked renewed concerns about habitat loss and declining koala numbers.

As the Coronial inquest into William Tyrrell's disappearance had a special sitting in Taree just 40 kilometres from where the toddler was last seen family members have been left frustrated by delays and disappointed by its failure so far to turn up any substantial new leads.

Three girls aged 12, 13 and 14, are before the courts over 13 grassfires police allege were deliberately lit on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

What started as a school project to make art from drink bottle lids has ended up with 3D-printed prosthetic limbs made from recycled plastic.

Much-needed support is rolling in for drought-affected farmers hit by a massive bushfire burning in northern New South Wales.

The honey industry is facing hard times along with other producers, having taken a battering over recent years from the drought and a string of natural disasters.

The whitegoods repairman who became the chief suspect in one of Australia's biggest child abduction mysteries reveals for the first time how the ordeal "shattered" his life.

Injured koalas receive life-saving treatment after surviving devastating bushfires on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

Conservation groups want harsher penalties for illegal land clearing, as the WA Government investigates a Chinese-owned company over the mysterious clearing of 120 hectares at a cattle station.

While the world has lost artworks by Rembrandt, da Vinci, and Van Gogh in just a few hundred years, some Indigenous art has lasted more than 30,000 years. So what is the secret?

James Gino Salerno, who was once based in the Adelaide Hills, is jailed for at least eight years for repeatedly sexually abusing a teenage member of the group. His victim says other girls still in the cult "can sleep easy now".

Vance Mazur will serve at least 15 years behind bars for fatally stabbing a 35-year-old Broome man outside a bottle shop in 2017 while suffering from violent delusions.

An arrest warrant has been issued after a man who served 12 years in prison for bashing and raping two tourists in WA's far north breached his post-sentence supervision order and failed to appear in court.

A Federal Government investigation has found no evidence a whistleblower onboard the livestock carrier Awassi Express fabricated conditions on the boat by switching off fans and ventilation.

A collection of knitted knockers that are different colours.

It usually melts long before lunchtime but forecasters expect snow over the Stirling Ranges to linger into the midafternoon this Saturday as a cold front blasts the mountain peaks of southern WA.

It is now decades since Todd Jefferis first raised the alarm about the sexual abuse atrocities carried out at Katanning's St Andrew's Hostel in Western Australia, but his fight for justice might finally be nearing an end.

A ship left Melbourne in January 1954 to set up Australia's first Antarctic base. Facing harsh conditions and the unknown, the pioneers built Mawson Station.

DAILY BRIEFING: Injured formula 3 driver Alex Peroni will return to Hobart in the next few days as questions are raised about why he was allowed to walk from a crash scene in Italy instead of being taken off by stretcher.

DAILY BRIEFING: A woman is in police custody after a house is in Lauderdale on Hobart's eastern shore is destroyed by fire and concerns raised over planned cuts to distance education teacher levels.

When there's a smell of smoke in the air, bushfire survivor Michael King still feels jittery. He describes it as similar to "how a Vietnam veteran might feel if he hears the sound of a chopper overhead".

Tasmania is known for being clean and green, but Eva Pagett can't drink her tank water because it's contaminated with lead.

Mandatory drug and alcohol testing for elected representatives could soon be a reality for a second Tasmanian council, but the proposal is proving to be divisive with one councillor labelling it "highly invasive".

Tasmania is brimming with history but anyone who owns a heritage-listed property knows it takes "buckets of money" to keep it up and running. Is it worth it?

Elective surgery relief for Sally McShane is still years away under Tasmania's worsening waiting list. One doctor says his request for a male patient be moved up the list, was met with an "inappropriate" hospital letter.

The future of the world's largest wild-caught fishery could be on a "path to oblivion" says one man, who after calling for a drastic cut in abalone catch limits was booted from the industry's peak body in Tasmania.

These farmers have an unusual complaint. As drought takes its toll on the rest of the nation, they just cannot keep water off their land and it's forcing them to halve their stock numbers.

A man who died days after attempting to take his life in a hospital toilet was unable to get immediate care despite experiencing thought of self harm, a Hobart inquest hears.

The head of the Royal Hobart Hospital's emergency department tells an inquest of a large increase in the number of mental health patients trying to access care, and of more suicide attempts at the facility.

DAILY BRIEFING: TasWater has lifted a boil water alert that was put in place on Monday for Lauderdale, Acton Park, Roches Beach and Seven Mile Beach, but investigations into how the drinking supply became infected with E. coli are still underway.

The District Council of Coober Pedy spends $60,000 investigating complaints before the complainant himself is elected to council.

Six people have been charged following the alleged assault of two off-duty police officers at Burnside Village shopping centre in Adelaide's eastern suburbs.

Power is being restored to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia as authorities consider shutting off power to the Mount Lofty Ranges in response to extreme fire danger conditions in the area.

The search for two people missing off the coast of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula ends tragically as the bodies of a 35-year-old man and his five-year-old daughter are spotted in waters after they were swept from rocks at Cape Carnot.

Australian wool totals are forecast to be down by 12.7 per cent on last year a drop of 43 million kilograms, and the lowest yield since 1924, when the industry was much smaller.

Hieu Van Le will serve for another two years as the Queen's South Australian representative, which the Premier says adds up to an "unprecedented" vice-regal term.

Visitors are travelling to outback South Australia for tours of the former atomic testing site, but traditional owners want to see the narrative refocused to tell their story.

Maritime collector Jamie Verhoeven dons a 70kg dive suit from the 1960s in shark-infested waters near Port Lincoln.

Magarey Medallist Luke Partington from Glenelg thanks volunteers for their tireless contribution to football, while SA football greats Peter Motley and Greg Anderson are inducted into the Hall of Fame.

A woman has been arrested and a man is on the run after a customer was stabbed during an attempted robbery at an Adelaide pub last night.

Clean drinking water is essential for survival but one South Australian Aboriginal community has now been completely "bone dry" for days.

Violent standover man Hizir Ferman may have "progressively suffocated" to death when Victorian prison officers used their body weight to pin him to the ground after forcibly removing him from his cell, an inquest has been told.